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Many small-business websites
were created to look gorgeous on a full-size computer monitor.
But with more people accessing the web over mobile
devices, it's no longer one-size-fits-all.

One of the more efficient and effective ways to serve all your
users well is to build -- or redesign -- your site using responsive
web design. This includes creating content that supports user
actions regardless of the type of device they have.

Responsive web design means your site will automatically
reconfigure itself, or "respond," to suit the size and type of
device a visitor happens to be using. It's all about enhancing
the user experience, particularly to enable people to easily do
or find what they want over mobile. That means pages need to load
quickly, and site design should minimize the need for resizing,
typing, scrolling and panning.

What do you need to know when developing content for your
mobile-friendly websites? Keep these five critical elements in
mind:

1. Consider smartphone users first.
To create a compelling and responsive website, it helps to focus
first on smartphone users. Start your design for small
touchscreens and scale up from there. This can help ensure that
your site satisfies users on any device and loads quickly on any
type of internet connection.

2. Think in terms of supporting actions.
Ask yourself what information users most want to find and what
they most hope to do on your site:

To see whether you offer the products or services they
desire? Which means you should offer a prominent
product search box or a link to a list of services.

To find your location? Make sure to include
your address and a map.

To make an appointment or reservation? To sign
up for email or text alerts of your special offers? Widgets or
links can connect people to these services.

To call you? These are phones, after all.

Yes, you can still include attractive images and colors on the
smallest version of your site design--as long as they load
quickly, appear legible on a small screen, and most important,
don't interfere with users taking action.

3. Scale up to tablets.
Once you've designed an attractive, efficient and useful site
that meets the needs of smartphone users, you can start deciding
which content to add or swap for tablet users.

You probably won't need to change your content or layout much to
accommodate users of smaller tablets such as the iPad Mini or
Kindle Fire. But for larger tablets such as the full-size iPad,
you might want to use larger images or add more content to your
home page, such as customer testimonials or announcements of
events or specials. You might also consider offering video
content -- just make sure it uses HTML5 because Adobe Flash video
doesn't work on many mobile operating systems.

4. Scale up to computers.
For laptop or desktop users, you can offer still richer content
-- perhaps more photos, a brief history of your business or an
explanation of the value and advantages of your products or
services. This information would also be available for
smartphones users, but tucked behind an "About us" menu item
rather than displayed on the home page.

5. Plan for analytics and updates.
It's one thing to guess how visitors will use your site, and
quite another to actually see what they do there. Make sure to
use web analytics tools such as Google Analytics on your site. Pay close
attention to how mobile traffic differs from computer traffic,
and adapt which content you include and where accordingly. For
instance, if you see that many mobile visitors are using your
search box to find a certain kind of content on your site,
consider adding a corresponding item for that to your main
menu. This satisfies a need while reducing the need for
touchscreen typing.

Ideally over time, you'll see the mobile portion of your web
traffic grow. And by staying focused on user actions rather than
page views, you'll be able to more accurately track how your
website helps build your business.

There are many more ways you can fine-tune your responsive
website design and content. Most of them are addressed in detail
in Content Strategy for
Mobile (A Book Apart, 2012) by web user
experience expert Karen McGrane. But if you simply follow the
tips above and work with a designer who has a track record for
developing responsive websites, you should soon be giving your
users what they really want -- on any device.